Not-so-long weekend this Canada Day

TORONTO - On Monday, some people will go to work begrudgingly, knowing that others are still taking a holiday break.

Canada Day falls on a Tuesday this year, and because of the "weird gap" it creates in the work week, some workplaces have created a de facto extra-long weekend.

"We have both Monday and Tuesday off," said Jennifer Fleming, who works for a PR company in Toronto and is spending the weekend at a lakeside cottage in Muskoka.

"The suckers are the people who are going to be working," said Philip Chin, near his Toronto office, where he'll be in on Monday morning.

"A lot of people will be taking it off covertly," said Chin. "They'll be doing as little as possible on that day."

"It's kind of awkward because you can't really do anything," said Laura Swietochowska. "It's just a weird gap in the week."

Unlike Victoria Day or Thanksgiving, which are sliding statutory holidays that always create a long weekend, Canada Day is celebrated July 1 — whenever that falls.

Changing Canada Day to consistently create a long weekend, though, might be more of a hassle than the weird schedules it creates. It would require an act of Parliament.

And because it marks the day of Canada's confederation on July 1, 1867, some people think the holiday should remain on that date.

"Canada Day should be celebrated on July 1. We have enough holidays that fall on the Monday," said Julio Digirolamo, one of those with an extended long weekend. "It's Canada Day and it should fall on the national holiday."

But David Rubinstein, who works in a flower shop, said that he could make use of the quiet day Monday while some of his customers are vacationing.

"All this cleaning up, and all this organizing that you do have to do and never gets done, gets done on days like that," he said.

Next year, Canada Day will split the week again when it falls on a Wednesday - but after that, it'll create a long weekend for the following four years.